May 22, 2009, 8:56AM

State data shows that 97 percent of this state's residents use seat belts, the highest rate of its kind in the nation. If you are among the 3 percent who not, it is time to buckle up. If ensuring your well-being is not reason enough (it should be), then approach the matter practically. State police will be targeting seat-belt scofflaws... Full story »

May 22, 2009, 8:44AM

In a free market, aren't consumers supposed to dictate what products -- say, automobiles -- get produced? You might think so, but there would have been no place for you at the White House on Tuesday. Full story »

May 21, 2009, 3:05PM

Stephen Forrest's ascension to the chairmanship of Ann Arbor SPARK can be seen as a renewal of vows between the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor business community. Forrest's appointment is expected to be approved this afternoon at the economic development organization's annual meeting. He takes over for SPARK founder and former Gateway Computers President Rick Snyder, who's... Full story »

May 21, 2009, 8:57AM

It's a lesson that we thought everyone knew, especially with finances so tight these days: Don't spend money that you don't have in hand. Or maybe the message didn't get to the Jackson Transportation Authority. Full story »

May 21, 2009, 7:42AM

Congratulations, Class of 2009. Here is sound advice you will not hear from the commencement speaker. Get comfortable with the idea you may never have as much stuff as your parents do. Luckily, you don't need most of that crap. Don't tattoo your face. Trust me on this. Just don't do it. Full story »

May 20, 2009, 8:42PM

CLEVELAND -- Seems like I've been running a little bit of everywhere in the last little while, taking weekend journeys just far enough from Kalamazoo to call them getaways. The lodge at Boyne Mountain, the Renaissance Center in Detroit and last weekend, it was the Hyatt and a surprise in Cleveland. Full story »

May 20, 2009, 4:00PM

This is not something you see every day -- mayors of three of southwestern Michigan's largest communities, seated at tables for elementary school students in a library where a lizard slept under a heat lamp and fish swam in an aquarium. But the mayors of Portage, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and a vice president of Western Michigan University gathered... Full story »

May 20, 2009, 3:15PM

An advanced battery manufacturer that previously featured in the Michigan's "Upper Hand" economic development advertising campaign appears to be teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Cobasys LLC, based in Oakland County's Orion Township, was one of the early pioneers of nickel-metal hydride battery technology. Its batteries power gas-electric hybrid versions of the Saturn Aura and Vue and the Chevrolet Malibu.... Full story »

May 20, 2009, 12:55PM

Michigan has a health care crisis. Nearly 3 million people -- almost one-third of our state's residents -- have no health insurance or rely on the state Medicaid program for their care. In fact, the state's Medicaid caseload has skyrocketed to an all-time record high as the recession takes jobs and health insurance away from more of our residents. Full story »

May 20, 2009, 9:13AM

Give organizers of the Hot Air Jubilee some credit. They are trying to get this event off the ground again, even in rough winds. The hot air balloon festival will return July 17, but organizers say they still need volunteers and, yes, money to ensure it survives. Another bad year, and the Jubilee could be gone. Full story »

May 20, 2009, 9:10AM

Say what you will about Jackson's City Council or administrators, but no one accuses them of acting with malice. It is disheartening, then, to hear complaints that race played a role in denying money to a neighborhood center. The city's only black councilman, Carl Breeding, and the director of the southside Neighborhood Resource Center both allege that other, sinister agendas... Full story »